http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 Captain: Cricket News
Zimbabwe captain, Elton Chigumbura, has decided to step down from his position at the helm of the African team that continues to struggle at the highest level. The 25-year-old captained the team that competed in the World Cup. The
biggest tournament in limited-overs cricket was a real disappointment for them as the lowly ranked nation failed to beat any of the three Test playing countries in their group.
Placed in Group A the Africans were handed over big defeats by the three cricketing giants in their group hosts 1996 World Champion http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746.
What was a bigger disappointment for Chigumbura was his own performance in the tournament. He failed to make an impact and looked pedestrian with both bat and the ball throughout the six Zimbabwe matches.
A source close to the Zimbabwean Cricket Board confirmed that the young all-rounder has made up his mind on the decision and is expected to convey it to the media in the country soon.
The source stated that talks are currently underway between him and the Board, yet nothing has come out officially. The word is that he is also speaking to the team's management official and is expected to make an announcement at the
start of next week.
Chigumbura was handed over the captaincy after off-spinner, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Prosper-Utseya-c82728, stepped down last year, however he was very ordinary in his stint as captain with his performance taking a real beating in both T20 and One Day matches.
In his captaincy career the soft spoken youngster failed to live up to his billing of a talented all-rounder, his average with the bat was 21.06 with the bat and 158.50 with the ball in 20 ODIs as captain.
In an interview published last week, the all-rounder has conceded that he has underperformed in his captaincy stint and that the demands of captaining a weak team have taken its toll on him.
"First and foremost I am selected to score runs and get wickets. This is something I have not been doing to the best of my abilities of late, especially the last three months. They have been difficult with all the demands of the captaincy
job”.
Chigumbura added that he thought long and hard about his future and what he needed to do to instill confidence amongst Zimbabwe cricketers and fans, who were disappointed by the poor show in the premier tournament.
"I have thought long and hard about the job since my return from the World Cup and I have consulted my family and friends about it. While some still think I should have stayed on others agreed with me that I needed to concentrate on
my own game and let somebody else lead the team.
The all-rounder had further stated that he would be more useful to the team if he regains his form, and the freedom that he is no longer the man-in-charge of a fledgling nation.
On a whole the stint was a bitter disappointment for the all-rounder yet there were moments that he would sure cherish when he quits the game. He led the team to consecutive wins over Asian giants http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 and Sri Lanka in a triangular
series, in which Zimbabwe finished runners-up, at home.
Overall in 128 ODIs he has scored 2557 runs at an average of 24 runs per innings. His tally includes 13 half centuries while with the ball the right arm medium pacer has snapped 81 wickets at an average of 39 runs per scalp.
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